Extreme heat coming through Bay Window

I have a baywindow in my wifes daycare at home. The heat as of late is extremely hot and she has had to move the kids to another room. My wife said someone told her to reseal the windows and someone else said to put curtains over it...I have looked online and noticed tint. Would that work...whats the best way to fix this extreme heat?....anyone have any ideal what to do with the extreme heat issue?

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Extreme heat coming through Bay Window

Living in S. GA. we have had to learn to deal with high heat/humidity for years now. I've tried window tint film on my home and my son's and think it was a complete waste of time and monies. Curtains with liners, not drapes, are the best answer we have come up with. Something to block the heat from radiating into the room. It's nice to be able to close the curtains when the sun/heat builds up then open them again when the temps drop any at all. These work as well in the winter when we have those few days of cold, to us, weather. OH--I also have 72" high windows in my home, which doesn't help with this problem. The addition of storm windows and curtains did help. David

Extreme heat coming through Bay Window

Been there, done that. Faces the south or southwest right? Get some shade cloth from your local hardware store or home center. Hang it on the OUTSIDE of the window and it will block the heat from getting to the window. It will make a huge difference in you solar gain. I did this years ago and made it so it could be raised and lowered. Shade cloth comes in different degrees of blocking so be sure and get a high number to block more of the sun. IIRC it came it a 6 foot width so I got 8 feet of it and the 8 foot diminsion became the width and the 6 foot diminsion became the hight of the 'curtain'. I hung it from the roof overhang. If you cant find it in wide enough rolls you may have to hang two seperate 'curtains' or piece the pieces together. This beats inside curtains because the heat never makes it to the glass. You can see through it BTW as it's not a solid sheet but kind of woven.

The Following User Says Thank You to Mike in Arkansas For This Useful Post:

Extreme heat coming through Bay Window

I had the same problem in the living room of my house. It was at least ten degrees hotter than the rest of the house so if the thermostat was set at 72, this room was 82. Not comfortable...

Anyway, double cellular shades worked wonders! We got them custom made from blinds.com and I couldnt be happier. We got Bali brand on sale from them. The price seemed reasonable too for our 102 wide by 48 tall window.

Extreme heat coming through Bay Window

Hi

In technical terms the sunlight enters/penetrates into the room through the glazing and gets absorbed by the surfaces it comes into contact with, the light is then re-emitted at a lower wavelength/strength as heat and is unable pass back out through the glazing and as a consequence the room heats up, basically the greenhouse effect.

To avoid this situation you need to stop the majority of sunlight entering into the building.

The options available are to use an 'external shutter', 'external window blind' or 'external canopy' in order to stop the sunlight directly entering into the room through the glazing.
If you do a web search on the terms mentioned you should get a good idea of what is available.

What ever you do, do not go for a solid finish, as it is good to maintain a view, rather than stare at a blank canvas all day!

You also need to keep in mind that in the winter months you will possibly want to benefit from the solar heat gains!

Extreme heat coming through Bay Window

If you install a solar control window film or tint you will help solve the heat problem with the bay window - there are a lot of different types of solar films that can block heat on the market - check out their specifications and choose the one that blocks the most heat (TSER = total solar energy rejected) while permitting an adequate amount of light flow (VLT = visual light transmission) for your purposes. There are some clear solar films on the market that block heat without reducing as much light as a dark tint would and may be more appropriate for a day care.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING to remember is NEVER install auto tint on building windows! They are highly heat absorbing and may cause the glass to break.

You can install window tint yourself very easily since the glass in your home is flat and most windows are square. You will notice the improvement immediately.

Extreme heat coming through Bay Window

You made me curious enough to check the temperature of my patio doors. They face west and get pretty warm by late afternoon. I have vertical venetions with a white backing, and I close the blinds before the afternoon sun starts to enter the house. Its a mild day today, its about 72 degrees outside right now, but the inside face of the glass is at 120 degrees F !!! Makes me want to consider an awning.
( Glad my vertical ventians are white, not dark !!!)

Extreme heat coming through Bay Window

An awning is a good option too, we installed some at our neighbourhood elementary school, and the result was good until someone left them open during a storm and they were destroyed by the wind.

An earlier post mentions heat gain in the winter. If you go the window film route and live in a climate that has hot summers and cold winters you might consider a Low-E window film. Low-E films block heat from outside and in the winter retain radiant heat thus conserving energy both summer and winter.

Extreme heat coming through Bay Window

Trying to synthesize the responses above and add the cost factor to things (money always matters) and SAFETY, since there are kids.

Window film: Mixed results. In my experience, it's useful but can be hard to install and won't be a solution by itself. (Thumbs down)

Exterior sun block: Very good. Usually called outdoor shades, these are basically exterior-grade roller shades and they *work*. This is probably the simplest solution for your situation. Since these are OUTSIDE, there are no safety issues for the kids in your wife's day care. They should be rolled up in high wind.

Interior roller shades: Good. Easier to open/close than outside shades but any cord should be kept out of kids reach (major issue! there are many injuries and worse from window treatment cords every year).

Interior cellular shades: Best. These block lots of heat but let light through, can be controlled from the inside and if you order them this way, they are CORDLESS - this is ideal for kids.

Interior curtains: Poor. Heavy, expensive, enticing for kids in the day care to climb on (and a safety hazard) and it's less helpful if you then have to turn on the lights in the daytime!